December 12, 2011

Think Like A Prussian General

In his famous essay, Principles of War, Major-General Carl von Clausewitz postulated that one of the key principles of winning a war was to apply a preponderance of physical force and material advantage to a decisive point of conflict.

This principle is also applicable in marketing. Sadly, however, it is rarely understood these days. Instead, we are living in the era of "360-degree touchpoints."

The current media landscape is kaleidoscopic as never before. There have never been so many media options, or options within options. The term "online advertising" alone means so many different things that it has simply become a short-hand for twenty or more different types of advertising which have nothing in common, other than they are all delivered over the web.

What does a Google listing have in common with a YouTube video? What does a Twitter feed have in common with a website? Nothing except the delivery system.

In their never-ending rush to cover all their bases and produce impressive looking media flow charts, clients and agencies have forgotten Clausewitz' principle. The key to winning any battle is not spreading yourself so thin that you apply a little force in many directions. The key is to concentrate your forces so that you break through. We call this impact. Advertising that does not have impact is a waste of money.

There are two ways to have impact. First, by doing great creative work. Second, by buying your way into the public consciousness. The first is obviously preferable, but the second also works.

The most wasteful way to spend advertising dollars is by doing invisible creative work and diluting your media presence over "360 degree touchpoints" so that you're everywhere and you're nowhere.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, has enough money that they can spend effectively in every medium. In fact, the whole science of media planning and buying is based on the presumption that there are ways to maximize the effect of media dollars and also ways to piss them all away.

It's time to bury the "360-degree touchpoints" nonsense and start thinking like a Prussian general. You don't want to do a little of everything. You want to do a few things well.

No one will ever say it better than David Ogilvy, "The essence of strategy is sacrifice."

"WARNING: This book will make you laugh out loud."

"The Most provocative Man In Advertising"

"Savage Critiques Of Digital Hype"

"Fabulously Irreverent"

Over 60,000 people have watched Bob's talk at Advertising week, Europe

You Are Caller Number...

Click Image

Ad Contrarian Says:

"Creative people make the ads. Everyone else makes the arrangements."

"Delusional thinking isn't just acceptable in marketing today -- it's mandatory.""Good ads appeal to us as consumers. Great ads appeal to us as humans."

"Social Media: Tens of millions of disagreeable people looking to make trouble."

"As an ad medium, the web is a much better yellow pages and a much worse television."

"Sometimes success in the advertising business is about sitting quietly and letting clients proceed with their hysterical delusions."

"Marketers prefer precise answers that are wrong to imprecise answers that are right."

"Brand studies last for months, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and generally have less impact on business than cleaning the drapes."

"The idea that the same consumer who was frantically clicking her TV remote to escape from advertising was going to merrily click her mouse to interact with it is going to go down as one of the great advertising delusions of all time."

"Nobody really knows what "creativity" is. Every year thousands of people take a pilgrimage to find out. This involves flying to Cannes, snorting cocaine, and having sex with smokers."

"Marketers habitually overestimate the attraction of new things and underestimate the power of traditional consumer behavior."

"We don’t get them to try our product by convincing them to love our brand. We get them to love our brand by convincing them to try our product."

"In American business, there is nothing stupider than the previous generation of management."

"If the message is right, who cares what screen people see it on? If the message is wrong, what difference does it make?"

"The only form of product information on the planet less trustworthy than advertising is the shrill ravings of web maniacs."

"There's no bigger sucker than a gullible marketer convinced he's missing a trend."

"All ad campaigns are branding campaigns. Whether you intend it to be a branding campaign is irrelevant. It will create an impression of your brand regardless of your intent."

"Nobody ever got famous predicting that things would stay pretty much the same."